Thrasher Magazine

For an Olympic bowl skater, Kieran Woolley sure does spend a lot of time in the streets. As one of “the Mates” along with Rob Pace, Woolley tried a trick at every single spot we went to. We usually bring a transition skater to help fill up the timeline, but as you’ll soon see, getting clips was no worries for this feisty Australian.


Stokin' out his vanmates at every stop, Keiran was a perfect addition to the Scramble mix

So tell us about your status here in the United States. You live with your girlfriend at a house with a ramp out in the country. How did you get into this fantastic situation? Where’d you even meet this girl?
I met her at the contest that led up to the Olympics in Iowa, actually. She was out supporting one of her friends and I actually had a little COVID scare. I couldn’t skate, but I didn’t have COVID so I went out to a party and met her. I was stoked.

Yeah, you’re living the American dream out there and you’re not even American.
Pretty much.

Stretching it out for the crew at Dougy Death’s ramp

Having a vert ramp at your house, have you stepped up your vert game at all?
I’ve been trying to skate it a fair bit. I don’t really like it too much but it’s fun to mess around on. We’ve been having good sessions with Navarrette and Hewitt and a bunch of those legends have been coming out and skating, so it’s been sick for them to push me.

Fuck yeah. So give us some basic stats—where are you from and how old are you?
I am from Minnamurra, New South Wales and I am 18 years old.

Skippin' the noseslide and going for the rare JT Aultz special

So how does the Scramble compare to getting ready for the Olympics? Is it harder? Is it a vacation compared to that?
It’s way better—you’re just out there skating with your friends, having a good time. I mean, not that preparing for the Olympics wasn’t that, it’s just two different mindsets.

I spoke to Nyjah about this—were you scared to street skate and skate normally leading up to the Olympics?
Yeah, I didn’t really head out and film too much in that time because I was like, If I get hurt then that’s not gonna be good. But in saying that, like a week before the Olympics I tore a muscle in my knee, so that wasn’t too nice.

I was wondering if we were gonna have to find bowls for you to get clips, but you skated every single street spot. Is that a misconception, that you’re just a bowl guy?
I mean, I try to skate everything. That was my goal on the trip—to just jump on all the rails and ledges and just have fun and skate with everybody, push with everybody and if there’s a bowl I’ll skate it. If not, it’s all good.

Walk-the-plank to Smith

So yeah, you didn’t bring your pads on the trip, huh?
Nah, nah. No pads—ever.

What kind of name is Woolley? Do you know your family name history?
I’ve got no clue. I think like British or something? I honestly have no clue.

Your dad’s aggro, too, right? I met him. He’s pretty young and he’s into fun stuff.
Yeah, he likes to ride motorbikes, surf, skate. He broke his neck surfing when I was a little grom. He likes to do it all.



Did he skate with you, too?
Yeah, so me and my dad started skating at the same time, actually. My dad learned handplants before me. We built a little mini-ramp in the backyard and we were just messing around all the time in between surfs and going motorbike riding and just living life.

Oh, man, sounds like paradise out there.
Yep, it’s the best.

So I gotta ask you—how’d you end up on this board company with the world’s greatest woman skaters? They’re like, We want THAT guy?
Yeah, it was pretty random. I think I met Sky when I was a little grom in Australia. She came out to Bowl-a-Rama and my dad and her dad Stu hit it off. So my dad and Stu kept a really close relationship for a while and I know Leticia just through contests. And yeah, when they were starting their board company they reached out to me to see if I’d be down to ride for them and I was like, You know what? Yeah, that’s a sick opportunity; it’s two legends. I knew Diego was getting on and I knew a bunch of the ams that were gonna join as well and I was just super stoked to be a part of it.

It took the Mate from Minnamurra to bust a gap-to-grind the Yanks have been looking at for 20 years

Yeah, some people are tough guys. They’ll be like, Ah, I don’t want to be on a girls’ team. Did you have any second thoughts like that?
Definitely at the start, but I talked to Stu and I talked to everybody running it and I realized that it’s not a girls’ company. Like, of course Leticia and Sky started it, but most of the riders are dudes and it’s just sick to get out. Like, we go on trips all the time, head out and film and skate and it’s just a good time.

Yeah. I noticed you and Rob, you tried something on every single spot. Is that an Australian thing or were you just so hyped to be out there?
Pretty much we were just so hyped to be out there. Me and Rob, at the start of the trip, ’cause we were rooming together, we were like, You know what? We’re skating everything. We don’t care if it’s a ledge, we don’t care if it’s whatever, we’re just gonna skate. And then by the third day we were like, Shit, we’re so sore; we might need to chill out a bit.

Who was somebody on the trip that you hadn’t met before that you were hyped once you got to skate with them?
Dude, pretty much everybody. Patrick Praman, like, I’ve seen footage of him forever and he was just mind blowing what he could do on a rail—flip in, flip out, it was just so sick. As well as Nick Matthews—dude’s got so much pop and you get to a spot and he’s sitting down and then all of a sudden just—bam—the gnarliest thing you’ve ever seen.

Ride-on nosegrind… with laser light show!

That dude can ollie the house.
For real.

What about Max? He’s really funny and really fun to hang out with but then he gets gnarly in his own weird ways.
Oh yeah, Max, he’s a legend. I had so much fun skating with him. He’s just like chilling there, talking shit, acting all goofy and then he’ll skate off and build some insane rail or some sketchy contraption and it’s just so sick whatever he does whenever he steps on a board.


Fuck yeah. What about Dylan? Did you know him from Instagram?
Yeah, I knew Dylan. I skated with him a few times around San Diego, but I’d never really gotten to hang out with him or go on a trip with him, so that was super sick to get to know him a bit better. He’s so talented. I wish I could skate a ledge like that but that ain’t happening.

Making it up as he went, boardslide off the launch

You’ll give it your best shot, though, right?
I’ll give it my best shot. I might throw a switch crook or something. No flip tricks, though.

What’s a basic flip trick that you just absolutely cannot do?
Heelflips.

No heelflips?
I can do ’em but, dude, they’re rough.

What was your favorite trick that you saw on the trip?
My favorite trick that I saw on the trip was either Max’s pole-jam 50-50, Rob’s ollie into the death bank or I reckon Dylan’s frontside flip was ridiculous. That big frontside flip was next level. And then also—fuck, I can’t even remember what went down, so much stuff. I think Nick’s ollie over the rail into the sketchy bank, that was really sick.

Trashy 5-0 drop

Who do you think’s gonna get a board first?
That’s a good question. I reckon Rob. Santa Cruz is pushing him pretty hard right now. I heard they got something coming real soon.

Oh, that’d be tight. Had you skated with him much at home?
I skated with him a bit, but it’s usually whenever I go up to the Central Coast I’ll skate with him at the local park—Bateau Bay. I never really headed out filming in the streets, but I’m going back for Christmas and New Year’s and I’m gonna be skating with him like the whole time. I’m so keen.

Channel-crossing kicky frontside grab to fakie

So the Scramble is often a jumping off point for turning pro. Are you ready? Do you want to turn pro?
I think I want to turn pro, for sure. I’m filming a part right now. I’m gonna put that part out and then I’ve got a few other little things I’m working on and then maybe after that’s all done see how it’s looking.

So yeah, what do you want to accomplish before you feel good about having your name on a board?
I really just wanna solidify myself more as a street skater and kinda trying to just achieve ATV status. So that’s what I’m working on with this new part. I’ve also got a bunch of footage coming out for OJ, and then I’m going to Europe for a month for a Monster premiere next week and I’ve got a few clips in that. So just trying to put out as much footage as I can and, yeah, just skate and have fun.


What’s the secret to McTwists?
I can’t do ‘em. You’re asking the wrong person.

What’s your favorite trick that you got on the trip?
I really liked when I carved around and ollied over the weird thing into the skinny bank. I was stoked on that.

Around the bend to ollie on a mossy ledge, Woolley got burly on some ancient colonial ‘crete

That was sketchy.
Yeah, I was pretty stoked with that and then some transition follow lines that Rye filmed in that one bowl. Those turned out so good.

Yeah, he’s good.
Yeah, he killed it.

Starting off the line with the most appropriate trick for Boneless Zine

We ate some pretty horrible food on this trip. If it’s a choice between Applebee’s and Mackers, which do you choose?
Applebee’s wasn’t too bad. But you cannot beat Mackers. That is just hands down.

So funny—we’d be talking shit about Mackers and then next thing you know people one by one would be going there to get some.
Mmm…

Off the tree into the “Death” portion of Dougy’s ramp, Kieran was all in

Ten years from now, what’s gonna be your main memory from the Am Scramble 2022?
I think my favorite memory will probably be when Max landed that trick and we all were just so hyped—just going crazy and everybody’s just loose.

Yeah, that was really fun. It was like a party at that triple set.
Yeah, when he landed it everybody just started partying.

Up to 50-50 and back down to another, quick feet, skating every spot, Woolley’s ATV spirit kept the vibes lively. Good on ya!